The present disclosure relates to a copying machine or a printer or the like including an image forming apparatus.
There is known an image forming apparatus capable of printing on both front and back surfaces of a sheet. The image forming apparatus is configured to reverse the front surface of the sheet on which an image has been formed by an image forming part and to convey the sheet again to the image forming part. The image forming apparatus includes a mechanism for removing a sheet jammed within a conveying path (unjamming).
For instance, there is a printer including a conveying path, a reverse path, and a switchback path. The conveying path conveys the sheet from one surface side to another surface side of an apparatus body via the image forming part. The reverse path conveys the sheet from a downstream side to an upstream side of the conveying path. The switchback path extends vertically from the downstream side of the conveying path to a sheet discharge part. A face-up tray composing the switchback path is turnably supported on a back surface of the apparatus body. A sub-tray composing the upstream side of the reverse path is turnably supported by the face-up tray. A JAM clearing unit for removing a sheet jammed in a vicinity of a fixing part is turnably provided on the downstream side of the conveying path. The JAM clearing unit composes the downstream side of the conveying path and the upstream side of the reverse path.
In a case when a sheet conveyance failure (a jam) occurs in the vicinity of the fixing part in the printer described above, the user executes an unjamming process by the following procedure. At first, the user opens the face-up tray and then turns the sub-tray to assure a work space at the upstream side of the reverse path. In succession, the user turns the JAM clearing unit to open the downstream side of the conveying path (the upstream side of the reverse path). Thereby, the user can remove the jammed sheet. It is noted that the user executes the unjamming process in accordance to instructions displayed on a liquid crystal display.
However, in executing the unjamming process in the printer described above, the user has to turn the face-up tray, the sub-tray, and the JAM clearing unit separately. To that end, the printer is required to instruct a plurality of steps for the unjamming process to the user. The user is also forced to correctly execute the plurality of steps. Thus, the printer described above has a problem that operability of the user is inferior due to the complexity of the procedure required in the unjamming process.